Zhu Houzhao heard that Zhang Xuan had also passed by here, and thought that Zhang Xuan might have finished his tour of the south, and perhaps he should have a clearer understanding of whether the Ming Dynasty should strictly ban mines or open them to increase the administrative method of mining tax revenue.

"Let Zhang Xuan come to see me", Zhu Houzhao said and got out of the carriage, looking at the endless Jiangbei wilderness in front of him and the cement road like a white dragon lying across the wilderness, he was very emotional, thinking that Daming has opened the sea to colonize foreign countries in recent years, not to mention other benefits, even the infrastructure construction is much better, because there are sufficient funds for infrastructure construction, even if he is now in some areas of Jiangbei that are not rich, he can also see cement roads, it can be seen that Daming traffic has indeed improved a lot.

What made Zhu Houzhao even more pleasantly surprised was that after the large-scale infrastructure construction, it brought not only a cement road, but also more prosperous business and trade activities.

It is enough to see that the emergence of cement roads has caused the people to no longer consider whether it is convenient for farming, but whether it is convenient for trading. The emergence of cement roads has quietly changed the Chinese society dominated by agricultural civilization.

"People like to build houses on the side of the cement road, basically the people in the mountains are gradually migrating around the cement road, there are more and more new county towns and market towns, although the implementation of tax reform in Jiangnan has encountered challenges, but it is still successful, and it can be promoted to other areas in the future."

Zhu Houzhao said a few words to Wang Shouren, he could imagine that the industrialization and commercialization of the Ming Dynasty would come quickly, and the imperial court, as the ruling Ming Dynasty, would have to make administrative changes quickly, otherwise it would not adapt to this era and be abandoned.

Wang Shouren also nodded, he could also feel that the Ming Dynasty had changed a lot in the past few decades, except for the elderly and children, it was difficult for the people to stay in one place for a long time, farming and reading were no longer the main way of society, business gradually became more important than agriculture, and the countryside gradually gave way to towns.

Dada!

There was the sound of horses' hooves.

When Zhu Houzhao looked back, he saw a group of officers and soldiers appearing, and they were standing directly on both sides of the road.

It's a pity that the newly promoted corn sprinkled by the nearby people on the cement road was trampled under the feet of these officers and soldiers, and Zhu Houzhao could only feel helpless about this, as in later generations, with the cement road, the farmers liked to dry things on the cement road, which could not be stopped, and the officers and soldiers who stepped on the corn were naturally blameless, after all, it was also their duty to guard the safety of both sides.

At this time, a large four-wheeled carriage came, and many officials and staff were clustered in front and behind the carriage.

Because he came to see Emperor Zhu Houzhao, Zhang Xuan didn't dare to let people knock the gong to clear the way, so he hurriedly got out of the car first, came to Zhu Houzhao, and made a big salute.

As soon as Zhu Houzhao saw Zhang Xuan coming, he asked directly: "How to deal with the matter of mining opening, do you have a clear idea now?" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, the minister visited the mines in the Guannai, most of the miners are powerful, but there are also people who open mines because of the barren local land, so the minister thinks that the imperial court should prohibit mining in the Guannai in principle, but it can not be banned for those who have opened the mines, so as not to cut off their way of life, but for the big mines opened by Haoqiang should be heavily taxed, and at the same time, the mines outside the customs and the private miners can be reduced or even exempted."

After Zhang Xuan said, Zhu Houzhao nodded, he also knew that it would take time to transfer the mining industry to Guanwai and the colonies, and it would definitely not be possible to achieve it in the short term, after all, many mountain people in the sparse arable land areas in the Guannai relied on mining for a living, and directly prohibiting mining in the Guannei would only force these people to rebel.

But the problem is how to define the gentry mining and the people's own mining, the best way is to define by the size of the minerals, even if the gentry are not rich businessmen, the people are naturally low operating profits can only meet the food and clothing, otherwise they will be taken away by the powerful households.

"In the final analysis, there should also be a threshold for the collection of mining tax in the Guannai, for example, in terms of annual profit of 1,000 silver dollars, if it is less than 1,000 silver dollars, it can not be taxed, but it needs to be registered and subject to government safety inspections, and those above 1,000 silver dollars must be taxed, and heavy taxes will be levied, so that its profits are very small!"

"At the same time, outside the customs, all mining bans can be opened, but they need to be registered, and the taxes should be low, or even tax-free, especially in these bitter cold places north of Monan, if further north, the imperial court can even directly provide subsidies, in short, open mines outside the customs, let the gentry and the common people know that the imperial court encourages and even wants them to make a fortune outside the customs!"

After returning to the capital, Zhu Houzhao listened to Zhang Xuan and Xia Yan's report on the field investigation of Daming Mining, and he became more clear about how he should rectify the mining problem of Daming and the use of northern territories.

Zhang Xuan, Xia Yan and others all said yes.

Only Kang Hai stood up: "However, Your Majesty, the ministers stayed in Beijing and secretly inquired about many noble gentry, who could neither accept the mining ban nor the collection of mining taxes, and under the persuasion of the ministers, most of them were only willing to accept the taxes paid by the non-official commoners. ”

"The privileged class itself has privileges, if you don't even pay taxes, it is like that, although I am the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the property under my name is also taking the initiative to pay taxes, and the Ming Dynasty is not my alone! If you don't want to pay taxes, then stop operating and don't be a Ming person! ”

Zhu Houzhao said a few words sharply, he was so stern that he clearly stated that as the emperor, and now for the long-term interests of the Ming Dynasty, he has decided not to consider the feelings of these powerful people, and the second is to give Zhang Xuan and Xia Yan confidence, let them know that their emperor is in favor of their change.

So, after Zhu Houzhao said this, Kang Hai didn't say anything more.

Next.

Zhang Xuan was in charge of the tax reform of the mining tax in the Guan, while Xia Yan was in charge of the tax reform of the mining tax outside the Guan.

Zhu Houzhao first set up the Ministry of Mines to be responsible for the geological and mineral exploration and mineral development audit of Daming, which also marked that the management of Daming minerals has entered a scientific management mode, rather than allowing local forces and people to open mines freely as before.

After all, from the current constitutional outline of the Ming Dynasty, minerals belong to the emperor, but the Ming Dynasty is the empire, the emperor is the head of the empire, and the empire is the emperor's, so the minerals are also state-owned.

Now Zhu Houzhao is willing to open the mining ban, which is equivalent to allowing land and resources to be developed by private individuals, but it has to accept the control of the emperor and the Ming court, and the Ming Emperor Zhu Houzhao and the Ming court want you to earn as much as you want.

Zhu Houzhao unconsciously set up another ministry, which is no way, the Ming Dynasty's political system is too simple, there is no official agency to manage many fields, and the affairs of the original six ministries are too broad, resulting in many affairs can not be managed more professionally and scientifically.

After the establishment of the Ministry of Mines, it was the main officials of the Tingtui Mining Department, and the main officials of the Tingtui were all recommended by Zhang Xuan and Xia Yan, after all, these officials had followed Zhang Xuan and Xia Yan to inspect the place, and knew how to manage the mining industry better.

Zhang Xuan began to preside over the mining tax reform in Guannei, and he also knew that the mining tax reform in Guannai he presided over was to offend people, and it was to make these miners unprofitable, but some things generally need people to do, Ma Wensheng, Jiao Fang and others fate told him that Emperor Zhu Houzhao of Zhengde was not an emperor who unloaded the mill and killed the donkey, even if there was a gentry group to kill himself in the future, the emperor would not let himself take the blame.

Therefore, Zhang Xuan is still gritting his teeth and doing it.

When Zhang Xuan's first letter was submitted and was approved by the celebrant to send it to the Ministry of Mines, there was an uproar in public opinion.

Vested interest groups have scolded Zhang Xuan for accumulating wealth too ruthlessly, as if they want to make the world chaotic!

However, the dignitaries and nobles in the capital all knew that the Zhengde Dynasty was not as good as the previous dynasty, and the emperor wanted to reform, and the ministers who followed the emperor were not tough, and resisting reform at this time was tantamount to asking for unhappiness.

But because of this, vested interest groups hate it even more.

Dingguo Gong Xu Guangzuo was eager to find someone to kill Zhang Xuan now, but he didn't dare to do so, after all, Zhang Xuan was the second assistant of the cabinet, and it was not easy to kill, if the assassination was not successful, he would suffer more serious consequences.

"Grandpa Guo, our iron mine in Fengrun was surrounded by the officers and soldiers of Fengrun County, and asked you to register in person with your household registration certificate and pay more than 374 million silver dollars in mining tax", at this time, Xu Guangzuo's housekeeper ran over and said a word to Xu Guangzuo.

Although Xu Guangzuo already knew that Zhang Xuan was raising the mining tax, he didn't expect Zhang Xuan to collect taxes so ruthlessly from the new tax administration, and he was even more angry for a while: "Zhang Zhang, what is he going to do!" The old man only sells more than 100,000 silver dollars a year in the Fengrun coal mine, but he collects more than 30% of my heavy taxes! Do I want to open this coal mine! Do you want to make a profit! ”

After Xu Guangzuo was extremely angry, he immediately wanted to enter the palace to see Emperor Zhu Houzhao.

Zhu Houzhao naturally won't see Xu Guangzuo, and now Zhu Houzhao is only hiding in the deep palace, doing research with people from the Academy of Sciences and Engineering, and has no time to pay attention to the government and politics.

"Grandpa Guo, please go back, the emperor is now working on electricity research with the people of the Academy of Sciences, there is no time, if you really have any important military affairs, it is the same to directly hand over to the Privy Council of the Guards", Gu Dayong, the celebrant of the celebrant said, with a smile, that is, not to let Xu Guangzuo have the opportunity to see Zhu Houzhao.

Xu Guangzuo had no choice but to walk back, and was ruthless for a while: "Your Majesty concentrates on the affairs of holy learning, and the government is taken care of by these traitorous ministers, Jiangnan has made the gentry complain, and now they collect mining taxes, and even levy heavy taxes, this government undoubtedly makes the magnates of the two capitals also complain, and if this goes on for a long time, how can the world not be chaotic!" Since Your Majesty is so disregarding the safety of the world, why should my Xu family care, it's a big deal if the coal mine is not opened, see how you collect taxes and let all the miners of Fengrun go home by themselves! ”

……

Here, Zhang Xuan came to Zhu Houzhao: "Your Majesty, the collection of mining taxes in the customs has really caused a huge backlash, and the nobles and gentry who opened the mines have all boycotted the mines, which is quite light, and there are even those who directly instigate the miners to resist the tax." ”

"This is expected in advance, Zhang Qing, I know that this matter is difficult, but we have held many court meetings, I don't want to say more, you should understand that no matter how difficult this matter is, it must be executed! We can't ignore the long-term interests of the Ming Dynasty because we are worried about small-scale incidents! ”

Zhu Houzhao patted Zhang Xuan's shoulder as he spoke.

Zhang Xuan nodded resolutely: "The minister understands!" Please rest assured, Your Majesty, the minister has decided to put his personal reputation aside, and is willing to risk the condemnation of the world to raise the mine tax! ”

Zhu Houzhao nodded, didn't say more, but suddenly remembered Xia Yan in his heart, he didn't know if the olive branch that Xia Yan was about to throw could successfully extinguish the fierce tax and anti-tax struggle set off by Zhang Xuan, but he knew that this was the only way for him to let Daming not give up a large area of northern territory and at the same time achieve economic benefits.

Zhang Xuan returned to the cabinet duty room here, and the cabinet minister Kang Hai glanced at him, but just sighed, he knew that what Zhang Xuan was doing now was very offensive, so that he, the head of the cabinet, didn't know what to say.

And at this time, Wang Tingxiang, who was in charge of the National Taxation Bureau, ran over: "Ge Lao, more than 500 miners in Fengrun No. 1 Coal Mine beat the tax supervisor we went to collect taxes and killed two people, but this coal mine is the property of Dingguo Gong, you see?" ”

After Wang Tingxiang spoke, Zhang Xuan couldn't help but raise his head and asked, "Kill the tax supervisor?" Check it out! Let the IRS move another 500 tax collectors to keep up. ”

Thereupon.

Zhang Xuan rushed to Fengrun County.

It happened that Xu Guangzuo, the Duke of Dingguo, also rushed to Fengrun County.

Because of the reason that the imperial court wanted to levy a mining tax, Xu Guangzuo originally shut down the Fengrun coal mine, but the more than 500 miners in the coal mine were unwilling to close the coal mine, and even spontaneously produced after Xu Guangzuo announced the suspension of work, but whether it was the miners themselves or Xu Guangzuo's own production, the Fengrun coal mine had to pay taxes.

As a result, the 500 miners got into an argument with the IRS tax inspector and killed two of them.

When Zhang Xuan arrived at the scene, he saw 500 miners holding various types of sticks and shovels outside the mine, looking at Zhang Xuan and a large number of tax collectors behind Zhang Zhang.

Because Zhang Xuan was at the scene, Ming Cheng, an official of the State Taxation Bureau who belonged to Shuntian Mansion, couldn't help but shout loudly and asked: "Do you know that you are illegally mining the minerals of His Majesty the Emperor, and now the emperor has issued a decree to allow you to mine, but you need to register and pay taxes, what else do you want!" ”

"The mine is dug by ourselves, we won't pay it if we don't pay it, we have the ability, as long as any of you dare to take a step forward, we will kill whoever we want!" One of the miners shouted fiercely, and the other miners followed suit.

Mingcheng couldn't help but ask Zhang Xuan back: "Elder Ge, do you see?" ”

"You tell them that they can not pay it, but the mine is not allowed to mine again!" Zhang Xuan said.

Mingcheng nodded and replied like this.

But the miners still said they didn't pay taxes but continued to mine.

After hearing this, Zhang Xuan said: "In this case, close the mine by force, and order it to go down, and all the tax collectors of the National Taxation Bureau will be loaded with muskets!" ”

"But, my lord, they are all my people!" Mingcheng replied.

"Although Your Majesty loves the people, and the court now considers the interests of the people everywhere, but the people are the people, and you can't think that you can do whatever you want! If you don't follow the rules, you will be punished! Suppress it directly for this official! Let them understand that the court can give them benefits, but it can also clean them up! They have always been ordinary people ruled by the imperial court! It's a fish to be slaughtered! Don't think that the court is fish and meat just because the court loves the people! Zhang Xuan said very seriously.

Thereupon.

The officers and men of the Internal Taxation Bureau had no choice but to shoot at the mine with live ammunition, and several miners thought that the officers and soldiers did not dare to hit themselves as before, so they waved their weapons and hit them.

But as soon as these miners raised their weapons, there was a snap! The miners were shot and fell to the ground.

Xu Guangzuo, who rushed to hear the news, couldn't help shouting when he saw this: "It's crazy, it's crazy!" This Zhang Xuan is simply crazy! What is he doing, he is killing the people! ”

。 m.